


Intervention

by Morpheel



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguments, Basically Tord's a cock but this time it's too far, Falling In Love, Friends With Benefits, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Rehab, M/M, Serious Talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 11:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11827893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheel/pseuds/Morpheel
Summary: Tord and Tom were typically used to the playful jabs back and forth- yet when a line is crossed regarding Tom's addiction it's clear that it will take a bit more than milk and cookies to fix this argument.Good thing Edd is excellent at giving advice.(Request from anon on Tumblr for Tom and Tord to get into an argument, only to eventually make up.)





	Intervention

**Author's Note:**

> Hey thanks for giving this a read! It's one of my more fluffy fics, since I wasn't entirely sure if they wanted smut. So take this angst that slowly turns into probably the softest and most tender shit I've written thus far.

“Thomas- wait! Will you just get back here and stop being so-!”

The door slammed shut in front of Tord’s face before he could even finish his statement, reeling back as he swore he felt the phantom sensation of air brushing along his nose. A centimeter further and the commie would have had a broken nose to add to the smorgasbord of problems piling up onto his platter.

He could hear Tom on the other end clicking the lock in place, before storming footsteps disappeared into his room. Tord was left reeling as he bored holes through the wood of the door, before slamming his fist against it and suitably catching the attention of nearly everyone in the house.

“Fine. If this is the way you want to be about it- then be my guest! I don’t care!” he shouted, before turning around and nearly jumping out of his skin when Edd was standing right in the hallway behind him. His shoulder was perched upon the door to his own room, a bushy eyebrow raised in Tord’s direction as he stared between Tom’s room and his “boy toy”.

Edd merely cracked his door open with a sigh, motioning Tord towards the inside. “Another fight?” he inquired, already used to the same old song and dance. Tord was used to the occasional bouts of advice from their leader- yet a sit down talk seemed to be a tad more serious than Tord had expected.

He sighed as he made his way past Edd and into his room. “Yes, unfortunately. Another fight.” He said mechanically, waving his hand in the air with poor enthusiasm as he threw himself onto Edd’s unkempt bed. Edd had a rather simple room when it came down to it- a computer with a full animation setup, cola cans strewn about, clothes in disarray on the floor.

It at least felt homey, and Tord was shifting his legs out of the way for Edd to sit down with him. The silence only lasted a moment before Edd was patting his hand on the side of Tord’s leg. “Well? You going to tell me what happened? Because I didn’t invite you into my room to take a nap.” He teased, even when Tord merely scoffed.

“Yeah yeah I was getting there. I guess…I don’t even really know what had happened?” he said, working through the events in his brain. “We were shooting the shit as usual, just talking about whatever and generally being amicable human beings. So he was making fun of me as he usually does- but then Tom mentioned something about wanting some water. So I jabbed at him, hey, you sure you didn’t mean Smirnoff?”

Tord paused to be sure that Edd was listening, before burying his face into his hands as an exasperated sigh left him. “Well. He didn’t really take the joke well. He was telling me to fuck off in a non joking manner, and usually he’s not like this? So I asked him if he was on his period and he got even angrier at me! So he called me some shit, I told him to take the stick out of his ass, and he just generally was acting so much more hostile than usual!”

When Tord was done he actually did feel a bit better. He had gotten his frustrations off of his chest, his shoulders slumped down while his eyes studied Edd’s expression. The man seemed to be in thought for a moment, before his eyebrows pinched together in slight confusion.

“Did you..not know?” He began, immediately garnering an annoyed expression from Tord. Who replied as such, “Oh, why yes, I do know. I know that exact thing that you’re talking about in this very moment, without you even needing to say it.”

Edd chuckled at Tord’s sass as he relinquished with a jovial tone. “Okay, okay. I get it, that was kind of vague. But I’m really surprised you’re the last one in the house to notice that Tom got rid of all his Smirnoff one night. Dumped it all down the drain.”

Now that was something he definitely wasn’t aware of.

Edd took note of Tord’s bafflement, before clasping his shoulder tightly in his hold with a half-smile. “Wow. You really didn’t know. He told us he’s been trying to quit lately, but obviously it’s hard to just drop a habit he’s had all his life overnight. He’s going to try to stop himself- and if he can’t, then we have his consent to bring him to rehab.”

Tord felt like a total cock now.

He was rubbing at his temples in distress the moment that he realized that he basically jabbed at Tom’s alcoholism as if it were the only part of his character. Holy shit. He was rising up the moment that realization dawned on him. “I have so much to fix.” He simply said, before Edd was outright laughing as Tord sprinted out of his room at top speed.

He settled back onto his bed a moment later, cracking open a can of cola and instantly pulling out his phone to text Matt about the recent happenings in their roommate’s love life. He swore they could make a sitcom out of their little family.

Tord was at Tom’s door in a second, poised to knock, before thinking otherwise just long enough to redirect his attention to the kitchen. Nothing like a little cooking to hopefully put his little spitfire in a better mood. He decided for something simple- who didn’t like cookies?

He wasn’t an avid baker like Matt (even if most of the time his creations came out burnt from lapse in attention), so he just took out the prepackaged cookie mix that they sometimes bought to only eat. He figured this was a valiant cause for the greater good. All it took was the oven to preheat, and the tube to be sliced into several different pieces, before he was waiting those agonizing eight minutes to bake.

The house smelled much nicer by the time the finished product was being pulled out. Tord made sure to grab a heaping glass of milk for the two to ideally share, lining the cookies up onto a platter, before summoning the confidence to make his way back to his…friend with benefits? Partner? Lover?

He didn’t know the term, but it didn’t matter. He was gently knocking with his foot onto Tom’s door when the sound of Susan’s low tune caught his attention. He frowned a bit, trying to kick a little harder given his hands were currently occupied.

“Thomas-“ He was cut off with a loud sigh. “Don’t fucking call me that.”

He gathered his patience, knowing he’d need every ounce of it, before resting his forehead against the door and trying to speak with as genuine a tone as possible. “Tom…I’m sorry. Edd told me some things about what you’re going through, and I now know I was kind of a dick.”

It was hard for him to hold back the additions of his own argument, wanting to just yell and say that there was little to no way he would have known that Tom was trying to come clean. But he knew if he were to so much as approach Tom with an argument the man would back down immediately.

It was quiet for a moment, the steady tempo of Susan ceasing, before the sound of shuffling could be heard from the other side of the door. Tom was opening it a moment later, a clearly unimpressed look on his face- until he noticed the platter of cookies in Tord’s hand.

He looked over the peace offering with blatant surprise, before finally reaching Tord’s face and looking admittedly a bit flustered from the offering. Tord rarely went out of his way for others, so he had a feeling the commie was actually genuine in his approach. Tom stepped aside after grabbing one of the still-warm cookies off of the platter.

“I guess you can come in.”

Tord was setting the plate down onto the side table of Tom’s bed, setting himself at the foot when Tom grabbed Susan to spread out along the pillows. The first cookie was already gone in a minute flat, a second already falling prey to Tom’s appetite. He always had such a sweet tooth.

Tord fiddled with his thumbs for a moment to occupy his attention, before resting his palm along the back of his own neck. “I…well, long story short, Edd talked me straight about just what it was that you were doing and. I guess I can say that I’m really proud of you?” His tone was hesitant, watching Tom’s reaction to judge if he had been on the right track for the apology.

When Tom didn’t look outright offended or disbelieving of the statement, Tord chanced scooting further in order to rest his hand over Tom’s own. It was a small gesture, but compared to how the two were fighting earlier, it meant a world of difference.

Tom was gently squeezing back, blank eyes still filled with uncertainty as Tord cradled his palm in his hold. “It’s accomplishment enough that you acknowledged you had a problem- but taking the steps to fix it is a huge step in the right direction. Had I known you were attempting to quit, I would have never said a word about the whole…Smirnoff comment. Therefore I’m sorry.”

Tord was holding his breath as he waited for the final verdict. He hoped that Tom would have cooled down enough by now to be reasonable- given that the last thing he wanted to do was extend the fight for another pointless few days until inevitably they would work out their frustrations through unproductive sex and bottled up emotions.

Tom himself was also thinking. Tord was the kind of man who would lie to help get his way. He would fake an apology while continuing to do said thing behind his back, and make you feel like the bad guy for his continuance of the aforementioned thing. He was a mind game wrapped up in psychopathic tendencies, and that’s what made their relationship so volatile.

Yet there were these few moments between them; the genuine concerned laced in with feelings that Tom had been convinced died inside of Tord ages ago. They hurt the pit of the chest while at the same time igniting a burning warmth deep in his gut. Tord’s intense gaze only made the moment all the more convincing.

Since the beginning of the fight, Tom had a feeling he would be unable to resist Tord for long. He was winding his arms around the other before he could even think of a constructive response to say, reveling in the furnace of heat that the man was.

He found solace hidden in Tord’s shoulder, gripping the sides of his hoodie as he hoped the gesture would be enough to smooth over the tension in the room. It took a moment, but soon Tom was practically melting into Tord’s arms when they hugged firmly around his body.

It was a safe feeling, to be so encased by the larger man as he could just temporarily forget about the weight of his reality for a moment. A simple but effective distraction.

It was only when he finally thought of what to say next that he withdrew his head from Tord’s shoulder, catching his attention with a small grunt. It was hard to have a serious conversation with someone whose entire disposition was generally either hostile or joking with you.

It was part of the reason Tord wasn’t involved in the rehab conversation to begin with.

It wasn’t very fair of him to just alienate the man from matters involving his life. Especially considering that Tord was beginning to grow as something more than merely a quick lay or amicable fist fight. He didn’t know what to call this ugly little emotion blossoming in his chest, but it made Tom deeply uncomfortable to acknowledge directly.

He barely even noticed he was just staring into Tord’s eyes, admiring the sharp angles of his face in lazy sweeps, until Tord’s hand migrated to his cheek to slowly stroke the skin there. He was jostled out of his trance by the action, before finding himself shifting just a bit closer when Tord leaned down further.

“What were you saying?” Tord had asked him, drawing confusion out of Tom. “Huh? I didn’t say anything?”

Tord could only laugh in response, pulling Tom closer to him once more as his hand idly pet through his hair. He liked it when Tom didn’t spike up his hair- it was surprisingly soft despite the product abuse it endured. He could card his fingers through it all day. “You were mumbling to yourself, you know. Something about my face?” He hinted, enjoying the way Tom’s face seemed to grow red once more.

“What! No I was not- you’re just trying to mess with me again!” He was instantly slapping his palm against Tord’s chest, trying to push him aside with a half grin. It only made it all the more amusing considering Tord refused to budge even an inch from his position, let alone that it seemed he was more than happy to move forward further into Tom’s personal space.

Of course Tom’s palm migrated upwards, resting quite comfortably over Tord’s mouth and eyes as he covered up the ridiculous kissing face he was making at him. “Oh will you quit it! Fine fine, I accept your apology! Just get off of me you big oaf!” he jabbed, laughing the entire time as Tord kept making the worst of kissing noises along his palm.

Finally the laughter was dying down a considerable amount, before Tom allowed his shoulders to relax as he moved his hand away from Tord’s face. It was almost cute how his nose scrunched up now that Tom’s palm wasn’t pressing against it, his eyes cracking open and smile stretching across his handsome features.

Tom was deep in it, wasn’t it. That ugly little word that he didn’t want to name.

He gently cradled Tord’s face in his palm as the other studied him, their terms not exactly strong but at least stable for now. It was thin ice to tread upon, but they would make it work. They always did.

Each one was afraid to move at this point, not wanting to break the trance that they seemed to be locked in. Tord’s eyes would move to Tom’s lips as the other pulled them into his mouth, biting at the soft skin and averting his gaze to the side. It was a game of cat and mouse, with Tord finally leaning in to gently thumb Tom’s lower lip out of his mouth.

“You know…you can talk to me if you need anything. I know this isn’t easy- so I guess I just…want you to understand that even if you can’t manage it yourself, there’s no shame in rehab. You’re already stronger than most for just being able to get this far.”

Tord’s voice was this soothingly low thrum in the back of his head, the words reaching deep to his chest and hurting just that little bit more. Only it hurt in the best of ways. He was resting his forehead against the other as he listened to him talk, fists clenching and unclenching into the red fabric below him.

It was so oddly intimate in this one moment, like a conversation meant to be had with no one else. Tom idly wondered if Tord ever showed this side to anyone but him. “You’re stronger than you think and give yourself credit for. I know your pride will convince you otherwise if you wind up needing admittance- and I just want to take that pride and crush it into the fucking dust.”

Tord’s palm clenched into the air before him, before slowly dropping as if visualizing the motions. “You’re so much more than your problems. And you’re still the same Tom, whether you’re slap happy drunk or not. You don’t need alcohol to be desirable and friendly. If anything,” Tord tilted Tom’s head carefully up a moment later, making sure he made direct eye contact with him.

“I like you like this than any other version you could conjure up inebriated.”

Tom was closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. His arms wound tight around Tord’s neck as he pulled him down, the world wavering through watering eyes as he kissed the man before him silly. At first it was hard to establish a steady rhythm- yet Tord was quick to take charge.

He gripped the back of Tom’s head and tilted him into the kiss, lips finally moving in tangent as Tom’s head drifted away to this safe faraway place. Where he could ignore the crawling sensations through his starved body, where the threat of his own self destructive tendencies couldn’t hide.

He was all too eager to fall back into the cushions with Tord on top of him, their mouths beginning to work together faster the quicker that Tom’s heartbeat hammered on. He didn’t know if he would ever come up for air at this rate, steadily falling deeper in that steady spiral that spelled his demise.

Even as their clothes scatted across the floor, and Tord was holding him a tenderness that rivaled a lover, Tom would never say it out loud. Even as their mouths spoke passion, promises flying between them as sparks grew hotter around them, it just wasn’t a possibility. Even when Tord was kissing him like he was starving, telling him little white lies that made his chest clench in desire, Tom would never call it anything remotely like that feeling.

He wouldn’t call it love.

**Author's Note:**

> Like what you read?  
> Request or commission me for a fic at https://morph-writes-shit.tumblr.com/ask


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